Sharks roundup: A look at the fourth line, the need to put Game 1 behind them, and a reminder on the importance of faceoffs

SAN JOSE – No surprise that the lines at Saturday’s practice matched those in the 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in Game 1.

The fourth line – Raffi Torres, Andrew Desjardins and Mike Brown – might not be together too long if Torres can handle the additional minutes and works his way up the depth chart. That’s one reason I opted to write about them for Sunday’s print edition story, which should be online soon.

Other than that, most of the attention today was focused on whether the Sharks can heed McLellan’s advice and not get too caught up in the results of Game 1. That’s the lead on the notebook I wrote for the print edition and that’s available online here .

That leaves one other topic for Working the Corners: faceoffs.

Both teams put a big emphasis on puck possession and since puck possession starts with faceoffs, wins in the circle are highly valued. While the Sharks won Game 1, Los Angeles held a slight edge, winning 51.5 percent of the draws. Most of that, though, can be attributed to James Sheppard going 2-9 for a mere 18 percent success rate.

Otherwise, the Sharks were outstanding: Desjardins won 70 percent of his 10 faceoffs, Joe Thornton won 67 percent of his 12 and Joe Pavelski won 63 percent of his 16.

Pavelski welcomed the tap on the shoulder to take late-game draws against the Kings in place of the struggling Sheppard.

“It’s nice. I think you want to be in all situations,” Pavelski said. “Six years ago when they (the coaching staff) came, they said if you get your faceoffs up you can earn a lot more ice time just because of that. It was something we worked on and kept trying to get a little bit better.”

Pavelski won 56 percent of his faceoffs this season, one-tenth of a percentage point behind Thornton for the team lead and 11th best in the NHL among players who took 500 or more draws.

Where did Pavelski first concentrate on faceoff skills?

“College, for sure,” he said. “We talked about it. And once you get to the NHL, it started getting harped on and you worked on it a lot more. I remember the rookie year, you thought you were good but you really weren’t even anywhere near being good. You just develop and learn guys tendencies, which help out, too.”

McLellan again spelled out the importance of faceoffs Saturday.

“It’s nice to have the puck. It’s a real good thing to start with it,” the Sharks coach said. “I think a lot has been made about the two teams and their ability to forecheck and hem the other team in. Well, you can’t start a forecheck without the puck, and faceoffs dictate that you at least have the chance to do that.

“Special teams faceoffs are real important. We’re good on the power play, not so good on the penalty kill. That has to get better. But it’s really a key part of the game. It happens some nights 70 times. You can’t overlook it’s importance.”

We’ll end it on that note. Back tomorrow.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

Hate the two day gap. And theres another one btween 3 and 4! Pus they started 4 days after games ended! Lets get it on. Inter state rivals should be a game every other night!

Huh?

The Avs-Wild announcers must be the Avs team. Nothing like hearing some of these other announcers to give you an appreciation of Randy & Drew. I think the young guys on the Avs are good, but please, wait until MacKinnon accomplishes something before putting him in the Hall (JR has him there already).

Huh?

NBC is calling a lot of the shots on this post season.

Beer League Rocks

I think something already scheduled at SAP tonight, so this two day gap not on NBC. I’m sure Staples Center very busy as well.

Beer League Rocks

Probably good for Torres and Hertl.

Beer League Rocks

For all the crap that some on here give to Randy and Drew, they really are pretty good.

Wonderogre

Drew is an enormous homer who still relies too much on olde timey hockey concepts (grit! tenacity! truculence!) for an analyst for my tastes, but Randy is easily one of the better PBP guys in the country.

spooky

pit-cbj game was pretty good. blue jackets were flying around like crazy. also broadcasters were very good and intense.

Yeah, getting only 3 for that blatant of a cheapshot because he’s not a “repeat offender” is ridiculous.

Buddy Elf

it was 3 games.

GP_hockeyhappens

A consistently inconsistent regular season suspension.

So far, seems there is a decent chance Seabrook won’t play again this season anyway. Still, I think everyone will conclude, no message was sent by the NHL to the player or players.

GP_hockeyhappens

About the league “sending a message” to players, seems they only wanted to send one to two players over the years. Cooke and Torres. Both have have received and heeded the message. Everyone else, it seems to be, “OK, you went too far this time, so just be careful next time.”

Hawk Valentine

Which may be the series but he shouldve been given the series. His hit was dirty. Torres’ was legal.